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How low do winter temps get where you are in Finland?
Here, near Chicago, we see -23C a few days in January and very occasionally down to -28C (-10F and -20F). We may get weeks at -17C (Zero F).

All those abandoned apiaries? Just call it an extended BOND experiment. Unlikely, but maybe something useful will show up that survives.
I seem to recall some NZ beek here (OT?) saying NZ bees...

It certainly seems possible, but varroa and virus load also confuses bees' navigational ability leading to more drifting, besides robbing of weak hives, and generally weakened hives being more...

I rarely spend money on much of anything! Convincing myself to buy hand tools is hard enough. I am about $500 into this hobby so far and doubt I will spend much more, unless I get to the point I can...

Put them in a nuc. I made the mistake of trying to overwinter a weak hive in a ten-frame. Even with loads of honey it was hard on them. Too much space for them to maintain, I believe.
Insulate the...

Glad you had a good year. I was unable to harvest more than a taste. It was simply too wet this Fall and the bees hardly were able to fly at all after mid-August. I peeked into my 4 hives today and...

I am hoping that you will keep us updated and some photos. I have some interest in Apis cerana, and may get the chance to work with them in the future if I move back to Japan.

Welcome! Looking forward to to learning from your experience.
What part of the country are you in?

5 or 10, I don't know enough to know. My thought is that 5 frames is very tight and would encourage swarming a lot more. Also, 5 frames is small and tight and easy for the bees to control warmth. On...

Well, my plan for next spring is to keep a few queens in 5-frame nucs and feed the heck out of them, pushing them to make as many swarm cells as they can. I then pull those swarm cells into as many...

Caught a swarm on my front porch, came into a bait hive by the front door. Exciting.

Yep, it's nearly January weather! Not below zero here yet but in the single digits once or twice. I got sugar on my hives and put insulation in the top box. See if this works better. Can't work worse...

First, I'm not a particularly successful beekeeper. Last year was a disaster. One survived winter very weak, and the swarms I caught both quickly developed wrinkled wings and heavy mite loads. Mite...

The main worry is did the queen survive all the events. If she did and she got into the box with the other bees you might be fine. If not, the question is did young eggs or larvae survive so the...

Hi and welcome. Beekeepers from around the world here. Lot of people use designs other than Langstroth.

I also live in an Illinois subdivision, with lots of corn and soybeans nearby. It's fine. It helps if there is some variety, woods and creeks, pastures. Corn is worthless for bees, but soybeans can...

That's the plan. More worried about poor pollen stocks for the winter bee production over the last two months. Without Fall pollen they will be weak bees. I made sure they got sugar, but did not give...

I have two nucs I am seeing if will make it in 5-frame deeps. They both seem healthy, no signs of mites or disease, but it's been very poor foraging weather so I wonder how well-fed their winter bees...

A news report on GregV's (and my) area's current weather. Early, record early snow amounts. This has been an odd year.
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One of Seeley's papers on bee genetics says that low levels of African genetics are now in the feral bee populations he studies.

I have been reading a lot of papers recently where studies were done with bees that had survived without treatment for years. They transported some of these hives to other regions and found they died...

One might almost suspect that rules for beekeeping are local. I'll take a quick peek on a calm January day. No more.

Butt joints and screws, Titebond 2. Only on year 4, but no signs at all of weakening, no flex or wobble. I seal the end grain with glue too, then paint. It's working so far.

I use a lot of oak leaves and also fireplace ash. Potatoes seem to do fine.

55-60 degrees? In January? Where did this guy live? Lucky here to get a single day above freezing around here. Maybe in March, or a rare late February.